Lua Scripting Awards (proudly?) sponsored by Facepunch

[Stickly Man!]

http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1052264-Lua-Scripting-Awards

So there's a little voting competition going on, with all sorts of lua-scripting fame going on around there.. And there's a serious lack of Megiddo and ULX there. I have thusly decided that I will be submitting a detailed ballot, and I invite all of you team members to join in, too!

The rules (as of now, they tend to change a bit here and there) state that we can submit a ballot via PM to Entoros, or post publicly on the thread. We can submit who we think the best lua coder is and what our favorite Mod and gamemode is.

The rules for the mod submission states that "The script can be released or un-released..." and "...it must have been made/updated within the past year...", Therefore, I am going to cast my vote with ULX SVN + XGUI.

Here is my current ballot as it stands:

1) I believe that Megiddo should earn the super scripter award because not only has he created and maintained the longest running, most stable admin mod for Garry's Mod in existence (ULX), but he has also helped solve the issues of mod support with various prop protections by introducing the CPPI API. He has also created UClip, one of the most used anti-noclip tools on servers before broken by the gmod update (It has since been fixed). It handles anti-noclipping efficiently and reliably, and doesn't require the clients to create "areas" of jerky anti-noclip like the other anti-noclip tools.

Megiddo (while not the most active member on facepunch), has been with the Gmod community longer than most members, releasing the first ever unofficial mod of Garry's Mod 5 called Meg's AI Mod 1/23/05, which eventually evolved into UGM later on in Garry's Mod versions 6 through 8. It was a series of scripts to allow placement of NPCs (first AI/NPC support in Garry's Mod!), and later introduced better menus to give access to more hl2 props, clients could make effects and 2-point lasers, and other fun features. ULX was also one of the earliest LUA-based mod released 2-3 days after Garry's Mod 9, and features are still being added to this day.

2) Naturally, I believe that ULX should be chosen as the Most Awesome addon for the following reasons:
-It was the first admin mod released for Garry's Mod and is still in development today (SVN Beta)
-Because of this fact, It is also the most used admin mod in existence.
-Every release version has been thoroughly tested and any known bugs have been fixed.
-Has had a history of always being as secure and reliable as possible -- No backdoors, never causes any conflict with other mods
-Endorsed by server companies, such as Art of War central
-Contains features like jail and teleport in which our code gets sometimes used (with credit or not) within other admin mods.

Even though our last release was back in 2009, Our SVN beta version has been revamped with new features giving the admins more control over their server, and it now includes something I've been working on: XGUI, a completely new GUI to ULX that allows configuration of just about every aspect of ULX in-game.

3) Uhh.. Great Gamemode.. Sandbox? I actually don't play Garry's Mod as much as I used to, I mainly just do lua scripting, So I'll leave this one unanswered.

I'd like to have our votes posted publicly in the thread so people can rate us dumb/friendly/etc. (lol), but I think far too many people don't know about the true history of Megiddo and ULX, and I think they deserve to know! <egotistical>Plus this would help XGUI get a tiny bit of publicity without making a thread on facepunch </egotistical>

I would love to hear your feedback and see your votes if you guys choose to!

[Megiddo]

Thanks Stickly, I appreciate that you thought of me when you saw that thread.

I didn't actually know about the competition until you mentioned it to me on MSN, but I think ULX is a shoe-in for the award simply based off how long it's been around and how many people use it. We could always (politely) ask our users to vote for it if they appreciate it, as well.

Couple of comments:
"longest running, most stable admin mod in existence" should probably be "longest running, most stable admin mod for garrysmod in existence", lest someone think we're competing with AMX/AMXX (where ULX got it's inspiration and name from). The first release date recorded was 1/23/04, not 1/2/04 (has it really been SEVEN YEARS?

I think this would definitely help XGUI too.

[Stickly Man!]

Finished my submission post above, and added your corrections. I'd like to get this in after everyone has taken a look-- JamminR, you usually have excellent feedback at this sort of thing

And I'm curious to see your guys's entries on the subject! lol

EDIT: And I would like to add that Megiddo was mentioned in the first page or two on that Facepunch thread, but many people think he's finished with Gmod. A lot of complaints about this competition in general has been towards old developers that have left, so, I think that A: Megiddo needs to post his submission or something (no pressure ), and B: Many people might be more supportive than we think towards ULX.

Who knows, I just like to poke the giant blob that is Facepunch and see the result

[Megiddo]

Sure, I'd post it. It appears that I've been noticed: http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1052264-Lua-Scripting-Awards?p=27674149&viewfull=1#post27674149

[Stickly Man!]

Hmm, I seemed to have missed this:

On a different note, I would like to remind all those posting that this is the nomination phase. Meaning that if someone is already nominated, there is absolutely no use in re-nominating the nominee unless you just feel it is necessary to tell the world about how good the coder/code/gamemode is.

Perhaps we should just refine my one entry and leave it at that? Perhaps you could give your support of my nomination? I'm not sure 

[JamminR]

So has Megiddo been nominated or not? I don't see him or ULib/ULX/Ulysses anything on first page.

Though I expect crap results in final run, I agree with Stick's nomination writeup.

Yeah, 7 years.
My how time flies.

[Stickly Man!]

http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1052264-Lua-Scripting-Awards?p=27682811&viewfull=1#post27682811

And there it is! Yeah, from what I can tell he hasn't been added for nomination, and hopefully my post changes that. Since the end result may end up to be a popular vote, I'm not expecting the best as of right now-- But I think there's enough of our community that we can rally the troops and get a good chance!

Either way, Megiddo was never in it for the money, I just want to see him get the respect/recognition he deserves

[Megiddo]

Oops, UGM was released at 1/23/05. Apparently I couldn't remember the year way back then.

Thanks Stickly! Good to see you were nominated too!

[MrPresident]

I seconded the nomination. The main thread said it had to be backed by 2 community members. Also Stickly's post is #225 and (at the time of this post) the first post was only updated as of post #200.

[Stickly Man!]

Thanks Mr. Pres! 

That thread has been really quiet suddenly.. I really wonder what will come of it?

UPDATE: Looks like Entoros updated the first post finally, and Megiddo's on the nomination list! *yay*
Now to wait for the popularity -- er, voting portion of the awards

[Stickly Man!]

Looks like the voting has started-- albeit I can only see the voting for the gamemode nominations as of now.
http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1057431-Lua-Scripting-Awards-Great-Gamemode-(redo)

(Sounds like Conna is being mentioned quite a bit there?)
I'll keep a lookout and keep you guys posted on further developments.

EDIT: Looks like the voting will take place in sessions:

Great Gamemode: February 5th to February 26th
Awesome Addon: February 12th to March 5th
Super Scripter: February 19th to March 12th

[Megiddo]

Hey guys, those of you receiving this message are currently nominees for the "Awesome Addon" category. I'm trying to get the thread contents collected before it goes up this weekend. All I need is a logo and a brief description of the addon, and we're good! Please check the list below to see if you are missing a logo or description (or if you want to change your current logo/description to something else). If you don't want to include a logo or description that's perfectly fine, it's up to you. Just please PM me back some time before Saturday to let me know.
Evolve (Overv)
http://evolve.overvprojects.nl/media/logo.png
Evolve is already a proven admin mod, proven by the fact it's already running well on about 35 servers. It has extensive support for custom ranks, which can be modified to suit your needs in realtime. The menu design is a well balanced mix between ULX' and ASSMod's. It's as compact as ASSMod's, as feature-rich as ULX' and works as smoothly as the well known iPhone menus. Unlike ASSMod, Evolve is very actively developed and any bugs are almost always fixed within 24 hours. There are over 50 plugins, which all have an actual use, unlike gimmicky commands like !gimp. Above all that, it comes with a sexy scoreboard which functions out of the box for Sandbox servers.

PAC2 (CapsAdmin)
NO LOGO
NO DESCRIPTION

Music Visualizer (CapsAdmin)
NO LOGO
NO DESCRIPTION

SourceBans (Lexic)
NO LOGO
Firstly, it is a complete replacement that a server owner can put in instead of the SourceMod version, and it will continue as normal. Secondly, it is a tool developers can use to create in-game admin mods that completely integrate with SourceBans, allowing you to view bans in-game and use useful menus instead of the concommands.

RagMorph (Sakarias88)
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/162/ragmorph.jpg
NO DESCRIPTION

ULX (Megiddo)
NO LOGO
ULX is by far our most popular work. ULX offers server admins an AMXX-style support. It allows multiple admins with different access levels on the same server. It has features from basic kick, ban, and slay to fancier commands such as blind, freeze, voting, and more.

MBilliards (Athos)
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/b14c61aaf4.png
NO DESCRIPTION

Guess this means I should dig out a logo... I think we had a logo at some point.

Edit: Found 'em! I don't remember who made these, but it's probably so long ago that the author doesn't play gmod anymore   . Which one do you all like the best? I think ULX.gif is my favorite.

Edit again: Just read over Evolve's description. I had thought that Overv was above that kind of thing, but I guess having money on the line changes people. JamminR, would you be interested in writing something up? Something that doesn't put down other mods specifically?

[Stickly Man!]

Here are my thoughts on the matter:

1) I believe we need to push for advertising XGUI here along with ULX's existing great features-- Few people know about XGUI since it hasn't been officially released-- but it IS part of the ULX SVN, and hardly anyone uses the release version anymore, that is the version to be considered in this contest.

I've been thinking of a few features of XGUI that would be best to point out-- Some of the most important in my book include:
-Edit server configurations on-the-fly without needing to restart the server or changelevel.
-Synchronization of settings-- If one admin makes a change to XGUI, all other admins will see the change updated IMMEDIATELY.
-Impressive bans support -- XGUI can handle thousands of bans, names/reasons/lengths of bans can be updated easily, and it can even display bans created via source engine which can be removed or converted to ULX so more information can be added.

(I have to hurry on this post, I can probably think of more later)

2) Our logo is a bit outdated, and I think we could benefit from getting a new one. Since we're revamping it with XGUI, I think it would be great to use a small screenshot of XGUI in the background rather than a solid color, to make it look a little less.. boring

3) "Evolve running well on 35 servers". This is a given, but ULX has been more stable, reliable, and more used (endorsed by ArtOfWarCentral, etc) than any other mod to date. Not to mention it was the first admin mod, .. and well, refer to my nomination for ULX

We have a lot of good truthful information we can put together without putting down other mods. I haven't checked for a while, but I believe XGUI provides more in-game customization than Evolve or maybe even Exsto. Some people complain that ULX is too complicated or bulky, but it's really not that bad.. I think they're just intimidated by all of the config settings


Anyways, I could rant for a while, but I have a bus to catch. I'll probably think of some more stuff to add later-- But JamminR, I would like to see what you come up with, should you choose to. (You're much better at this stuff than me )

[JamminR]

Gimme a few hours, possibly into Thur night. I'll try to be nice.
I'll probably use the fact many other admin mods declare us by name as a selling point.

Also, I'd bet 80% of Gmod'ers don't know what AMXX is.
I still don't. Sure, an admin mod for HLDS. But HLDS is old, like our old release menu.

[JamminR]

ULX
The oldest lua admin mod released for Gmod, and the one almost every other admin mod written has compared itself to or claimed to be better than.
Not just an ordinary administration mod (kick/ban), it contains many useful features to assist in administration (reserved slots), or just fun punishments (blind, maul).
Combined with it's module system, and a supportive forum community of developers and ULX users, the possibilities of extensibility are virtually endless.
ULX SVN is constantly evolving to keep up with Garry's Mod advancements.
Our newest menu system, XGUI, allows for the dynamic configuration of (every?) item held within the ULX environment, and active user and group management within your favorite gamemode of choice.
While attempting to please the graphic oriented users, ULX's core functionality still allows for configuration and administration of servers that use raw console access of both Windows and Unix formats.



Someone please clean that up for me. 5-10 minutes draft